Narrative of Soul Against Soul
by beOUTLOUD
Summary: My kingdom was left to ruins. The heartless have stolen my life, my people, my king and queen. Justice has to be served, somehow... Rated T for Safety. My first story on here! Lemme know how it is. : There will be girlyness later, most likely.


It was quiet at first.

All I could hear was the soft inhale and exhale of myself, and even then I could barely hear it. All was silent, as if the world had stopped. It was dark, like always.  
But that moment was darker than anything I had ever experienced up to that point. I could sense that it would only get darker from there.  
They came in numbers - at first only a few, then they bombarded me, their black forms covering me until I could've sworn I was drowning.

Drowning, drowning. I couldn't breathe.

So how did I scream?

Then, they disappeared, and a large shadow appeared behind me.  
Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid.  
At that point, I wasn't sure what it was that I wasn't supposed to be afraid of. Was it a monster? A person? A thing? The future, the past, what WAS it?

Something must be casting the shadow.

I ran from it, diving off the edge of the floating plateau I had been standing on. I was immersed in water. It was bright. I knew I wasn't home yet. Not yet.  
No, no. There was no way home. I had just jumped off of the last bit of home. The last bit of land left of my poor, poor kingdom.  
My king, my queen, my friends - the wizards and knights and servants and the people who I knew and who knew me and who had lives that intertwined in my own, who played important roles in what I call my existence. My mother, my father, my sister Millie, my brother Ridge. Where had they gone?

I was pulled up by some invisible force that ripped the water away from all around me, and was face-to-face with this shadow monster. It had narrow, purple eyes and it resembled a person, though I couldn't be too sure – it kept shifting. I tried to break from it's grasp – somehow in all the excitement it had gotten a hold of me – but failed miserably. The monster pulled me up to its face, and I heard a voice.

_The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes. _

I yielded my struggling, looking down. There was nobody, but the voice was clear and crisp – neither a man nor a woman's voice. Just a voice.

I stared straight into the shadow monster's great, huge eyes. "What do you want?"

It stopped shifting for a moment, stopped the chaos. All of the bits and pieces of the land that were flying into the sky at that moment ceased, and hovered. The monster tilted its head, and whispered "Your heart."

_Flash!_

I think I was sucked into its darkness.

I awoke in a dimly lit alley, my head throbbing as I took a long moment to check out the damage to myself. I felt along my arms and legs, checking to make sure I still had all feeling in my limbs, noticing my long, flimsy skirt had been torn down to a miniskirt, revealing my extremely white legs, and noticed I had on no shoes – those trivial heels must have fallen off in my struggle. My white blouse had nearly all the buttons ripped off, but my thin leather underarmor had remained intact, thank the Lord in Heaven I had something, ignoring the fact that the underarmor stooped a bit too low down my chest for my taste. My mother's layered pearl necklace was still completely unscratched, along with the gold and pearl layered bracelet.

It's funny how things work out like that.

I nearly broke down crying thinking about what I had been doing just before the darkness came. My sister's perfect wedding – the one thing she ever wanted in the world – had been ruined. I had a feeling it was my own fault, but I couldn't think how. I was sure it wasn't, though my gut told me different.

I stood, running my fingers through my medium, messy cinnamon hair, absolutely positive that there were bags under my matching ginger eyes. I took two deep breaths before stepping out into the town, looking for somewhere, someone, something that might help me. I immediately tripped.

I snarled as I quickly pulled my skirt down, sitting up to see what dastardly thing had pulled me down.

It was a key. An oversized, pink and white, shiny key that seemed more like a blade than a device for opening locks. I picked it up, the handle comfortable in my hand. The handle was shaped like a heart, with pink wings coming out of the side, a pale pink crown topping the coral heart. A chain hung off of the key – a keychain, I concluded – and a smaller, plain key hung off of the chain.

After examining it for a brief moment, I decided that I would take it with me, and thus began my exploring of the city.

I walked past a bored looking woman standing in front of a restaurant, and I noticed a strange blue marking on the ground. Back in the alley, I had noticed a similar red one. I wondered what they were.

I noticed a boy, probably a year younger than me, and cautiously strode over to him, a pleading look on my face.

"Excuse me…Where are we? I…I can't seem to remember where this is."

He smiled, as if he understood my confusion, felt my pain. "Well you're in Traverse Town, lady. This is where people come when their world is destroyed. It happened to me, too. Don't worry everyone here is pretty nice, just be sure to stay in the first district unless you're with someone strong."

I tilted my head slightly, signaling for him to continue on as to why. "There's monsters."

I didn't need for him to continue on after that. I was sure it was blasphemy – probably an adult had told him that because it was crowded in other "districts" of the town, and his over-protective mother or father was afraid he would be kidnapped or some other rare occurrence would come upon him.

I thanked him, and nearly curtsied him when I realized that wouldn't be a good idea considering what I was wearing, and instead nodded, walking away.

I wandered around until I entered a shop. A table and couch centered the room, and a small, brick fireplace was off to the side. I strode over to the handsome blond shopkeeper, smiling as I approached.

"I ain't givin' you anythin' for free! I don't care how pretty ya' are, you gotta pay jes' like e'ryone else." He announced, crossing his arms over his chest, biting down on a twig that was in his mouth.

"Oh, no, I…I'm not dressed like this on purpose!" I was offended at the very thought. "I was wondering if you knew a hotel I could stay the night at, until I gather my head…I'm not from here, you see. My name is Avery." I shuffled uncomfortably, my bare feet freezing.

"Ah, I see. Another world lost. I'm sorry, kid –"

"Avery."

"I'm sorry, _Avery_. I'm Cid. Ya' ever need anything, you come to **me**, alright? Listen, there's a hotel in the second district, but I wouldn't go there if I were you right now. There's monsters 'round those parts lately."

I stared at him in disbelief, my mouth slightly agape. "Are you being serious?"

"Yep, but if ya' hurry into the buildin', ya should be safe there. It's on the left, ya' can't miss it."

I frowned, my lip trembling. "Thank you, Cid. You're a kind man." I murmured, my mind elsewhere.

As I opened the door to leave, another force pulled from the outside, trying to get in. I let go, allowing the other person to come in before I went out. A cute boy came in as soon as I let go, his hair was copper and spiky. His eyes were sky blue, and he wore a strange, red jumpsuit and yellow shoes…

"Cid! You don't happen to sell potions, do you?" He asked, his voice like chimes. "It'd really be handy."

Cid shook his head, "Nah, sorry kid. Go to that shop over on the right of mine."

He sighed, scratching his head with his key – yes, a key! It resembled mine in so many ways…

"Excuse me…?" I tentatively whispered "I…I have something a bit like that key you have…" I held up my key, biting my lower lip just the slightest bit. "I'm Avery."

He smiled a quirky little smile, his eyes wide and excited at the sight of my key. "Woah! That's really cool! Have those shadow things come around you, too? Oh, I'm Sora."

I nodded, "They attacked my kingdom."

"Oh, I'm sorry…They did the same to my Island!" He seemed geniunly sympathetic.

I look down. "Are you strong?"

His smile faltered. "Well…I'm strong enough to beat 'em off, why?"

"Have you been to the second district?" I asked, my voice barely audible.

"Yeah! Why, you gotta get somewhere?"

I hesitated, slightly awed by his kindness and willingness to help a perfect stranger that could be plotting to kill him for all he knew, and nodded. "I'd like to stay at a hotel maybe…I'm very tired…I could tell you my story on the way…" I blinked. Wait. This was all going way too fast. Way fast. Fast. Stop. Wait. _Why am I asking this boy for help? I don't need it. Why am I so intimidated by everything? The world didn't end. Only mine. Move on. Come on now…_

I shook my head. "Wait. No. I don't need any help. Thank you anyway…Sora." And with that I turned, grasped the cold metal handle of the door, and was out. I was surprised by the sight of a tall male, standing nonchalantly, as if waiting. I eyed him warily before starting away.

"You also wield the keyblade? I thought there was only one here."

I swiveled around, examining him to the very last detail. His chocolate hair framed his face, although the back was short and wildly spiked, and his narrow eyes were dark and blue. He had a scar running from the left middle of his forehead to his right cheek, and an earring on his right ear. He wore a short, black jacket with a red symbol on the short sleeve, and wore the same symbol as a necklace. He seemed to like belts – he had about twenty of them, including three on his arm. His black pants and boots seemed melt into each other, the colors were so the same.

"What do you want?" I asked, my voice wavering.

He laughed. "It's not what I want, it's what I don't want _them _to have." I turned my head slightly, asking without speaking. "The key."

I realized what he wanted and frowned, something inside me telling me not give it up, something telling me that was a bad idea.

"You'll have to fight me for it."


End file.
